Foreplay
by Taylor Hayes
Summary: What Tony and Loki consider flirting leaves the Avengers confused and uncomfortable. IronFrost Oneshot.


**Foreplay**

None of the Avengers were entirely sure when their reluctant alliance with Loki crossed the line into the alien god and Ironman starting a (surprisingly) romantic relationship. Thor blamed something called "flyting", insisting that the tendency both the sorcerer and their resident genius had of calling one another names and questioning parentage, intelligence and occasionally even hygiene, was basically his adopted brother's favorite type of foreplay. (Technically, he'd used the word "courting", but they were all well aware the chaste, dating stage had been skipped by the couple entirely. Clint had never wished for brain bleach more than the day he'd stumbled across evidence of _that_.)

Now, there was nothing so awkward and discomfiting to the rest of the team than when the pair were called out together to combat the latest villain running rampant in New York. The foreknowledge of what would happen between the two once everyone returned to the Tower caused a general level of embarrassment. And when certain nicknames came out, they were all grateful Tony had thought to install soundproofing in most of the Tower's private rooms.

Such was the case when, on a Tuesday (It always seemed to be Tuesdays lately.) the group of seven and their handler assembled to deal with a team-up between Amora and Doctor Doom. Hulk was leaping around, roaring while gleefully ripping down Doombots out of the sky and smashing them into base components. Clint kept an eye out for trouble from his perch atop a nearby office building, also happy to be shooting down the robots with his latest Stark toys - arrows tipped by steel, embedded with a small, localized EMP. Natasha was following an electronic signal to where they believed Doom had holed up. Thor had challenged Skurge to combat, the god and giant wrestling and dueling back and forth across the street, already having destroyed three parked cars, multiple signs, and the mail drop box for an entire apartment complex. Coulson was busy directing civilians to distant safety.

As all this went on, an airborne Ironman was darting through the sky above Amora, Loki balancing unnaturally graceful on the metal suit's back. For each wave of sickly, pale green power the woman aimed their way, a repulser blast accompanied by a series of spells in luminescent blue and dark green slammed against the domed barrier the Aesir seductress had erected. So far, the pair's biting comments had been limited to basics. Then Loki's latest magical attack latched on to Amora's shelter like a creeper vine, spreading rapidly and digging down into the verdis light, hooking in claws until the entirety shattered beneath the onslaught.

That was when Tony, voice going rough, though he attempted to mask it with a joking tone, announced, "_Nice hit, Reindeer Games. Now hold on, we're going right._"

Loki's response was just as bad, "How many times must I warn you not to refer to me so, you ill-mannered, infantile, misbegotten, Midgardian _lunatic!_"

The words caused the genius to growl low in his throat. Clint whimpered, Cap blushed, and Natasha merely sighed, "_О, нет._"

Not long thereafter, Doombots dealt with, Amora and Skurge both bound in magical nets and escorted by Thor back to Asgard, and Doom in SHIELD custody (at least until his newest political excuse for his actions had him shipped -unpunished- back to Latveria), it was Natasha who spoke up before the debriefing. "That action movie you wanted to see is showing in an hour," she told Clint. "Steve, Bruce, would you care to join us?"

The soldier immediately agreed. For a moment, it appeared the scientist, on the other hand, would choose to remain behind. Then Tony laughed out something insulting and added "_Rock of Ages_".

"Yes, absolutely, it'd be my pleasure," came the answer, pushed out in a single rush of breath.

Coulson, who would be kept at SHIELD's New York headquarters for at least 12 hours, simply smiled.

Loki and Tony utterly failed to notice when not a single member of the team returned to the Tower for the night. They were a little busy cursing one another to high heaven. (Among other things…)


End file.
